1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mixing apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
An analysis system is disclosed which is used for analyzing a sample such as a body fluid of human or animals for the concentration of a particular component in the sample (e.g. Patent Document 1). The analysis system disclosed in Patent Document 1 is made up of a disposable cartridge and an analyzing apparatus to which the cartridge is to be mounted.
To analyze a sample, it is sometimes necessary to perform pretreatment to bring the sample into a condition suitable for the analysis. Examples of such pretreatment include mixing the sample with a predetermined treatment agent (solid) or a predetermined treatment liquid (liquid) and enriching a predetermined component in the sample after it is mixed with a treatment agent or liquid. For instance, to check the health condition, a heavy metal such as mercury, cadmium, lead contained in urine as a sample may be analyzed. Since the amount of such a heavy metal in urine is very small, to perform the analysis, it is necessary to mix the urine with a treatment agent for promoting separation of a heavy metal, which is a target component, from urine and then enrich the heavy metal.
Although the cartridge disclosed in Patent Document 1 is intended to perform the treatment for separating a heavy metal from the sample, Patent Document 1 does not suggest that all the process of adding a treatment agent or liquid for separation and mixing the sample with the treatment agent be performed in the cartridge. Thus, the heavy metal may not be sufficiently enriched or pretreatment such as mixing needs to be performed before supplying the sample into the cartridge. In particular, it is difficult to properly mix the sample with a solid treatment agent within the cartridge.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent No. 4053081